


atlas been knew all this time

by narada-talis (sarensen)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: First Kiss, M/M, Post-Season/Series 07, Sharing a Bed, the atlas is the real mvp, wingman!atlas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-27
Updated: 2018-10-27
Packaged: 2019-08-08 07:38:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16425170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarensen/pseuds/narada-talis
Summary: “Uh. Shiro?”The wolf cocks his head inquisitively at them at the sound of Keith’s voice. Keith asks, “Where’s my room?”Shiro pauses, then turns as well, counting doors. He blinks. “Huh. That can’t be right.”He walks the short distance to the other end of the corridor, peering around the corner, but finds only a bare stretch of wall to both sides. He faces Keith with an embarrassed shrug, rubbing the back of his neck. “I guess you didn’t get one…”There’s a slightly awkward pause. Keith shuffles his feet, not sure how he feels about that. “...Okay. That’s fine. The wolf and me can just sleep in Black’s bunk.”He turns to go when Shiro’s hand lands on his shoulder.“Keith, no. The Lions’ hangar is all the way on the other end of the ship. Just share with me tonight.”





	atlas been knew all this time

"Great work out there, Keith."

Keith doesn't bother hiding his smile, warmed by the compliment. He's alone with Shiro in the most recent addition to the Atlas' interior - a small lounge close to the paladins' quarters, complete with sunken couches and a large datascreen that picks up Earth TV. The other paladins retired to their bunks not too long ago, but Keith had wanted some time alone with Shiro, to catch up.

He runs his hand along the back of the couch and says, "Couldn't've done it without the Atlas."

He doesn't think he's imagining the low rumble he can feel beneath his feet, the whole ship purring as though pleased. Keith's smile widens.

"Hey," Shiro says, leaning over to shoulder-bump Keith lightly, "I mean it. The way you led them today... You've really grown. I always knew you were exceptional, Keith. You just proved it again today."

They've just come back from a battle on the fringes of the Solar System, where the last dregs of the Galra resistance have made their last stand. Missions like these have become less and less frequent for Voltron and the Atlas of late - it's rare for them to have to head out together. Lance called their team "a giant space Roomba, cleanin' up the hyper-violent dust bunnies of the Galaxy", which Keith secretly finds funny but would rather die than admit.

He ducks his head, reaching out to ruffle the space wolf's fur in lieu of reply, and to hide the beginnings of the blush threatening to spread from his neck onto his face. Shiro seems to understand (because it's Shiro, and he always understands what Keith wants to say, even when the words don't quite come out.)

He squeezes Keith's shoulder and gets up, stretching with a yawn. "Time for bed. We've all had a long day."

Keith and the wolf follow him down the corridor to the paladins' quarters. The Atlas seems to have taken quite a liking to structural design - they find new rooms and secret crannies after almost every transformation. Once, it had made an indoor pool after Lance mentioned to Hunk how he missed the one on the Castle of Lions. The Atlas, however, seemed to sometimes miss crucial chunks of information, such as what a pool actually _was_ , and what it was supposed to _do_ , and it was only after the next transformation, (and after Pidge discreetly uploaded some image files to its neural network) that they were actually able to use their pool without the fear of losing several limbs.

Besides not-pools, the Atlas' sense of interior design has several other quirks: despite being the biggest ship created in all of human history, the paladins' rooms have been formed all together for some reason, in a smaller section of the ship removed from the other crew. It's almost as if the ship saw the way they all tend to huddle together, sticking close to each other even in big crowds around the Garrison, and made sure they could sleep near each other too. Keith is grateful for this. He doesn't like being separated from the other paladins, even temporarily, and appreciates being close to Shiro especially.

He's curious to see the new rooms. Shiro only found out about them after their first fight on this mission, but they haven't had a chance to breathe since, or to check them out. He's tired, and more than ready for a shower and bed.

They pass a row of closed doors behind which Allura, Hunk, Pidge and Lance have all made themselves at home. There's soft music coming muffled from behind Lance's door - classical Earth music, Keith thinks, maybe an artist he thinks is called Celine Diaz? Dion? Something like that.

Shiro stops before the last door to key it open, but...

Keith clears his throat, turning in a slow half circle to look around. "Uh. Shiro?"

The wolf cocks his head inquisitively at them at the sound of Keith's voice. Keith asks, "Where's my room?"

Shiro pauses, then turns as well, counting doors. He blinks. "Huh. That can't be right."

He walks the short distance to the other end of the corridor, peering around the corner, but finds only a bare stretch of wall to both sides. He faces Keith with an embarrassed shrug, rubbing the back of his neck. "I guess you didn't get one..."

There's a slightly awkward pause. Keith shuffles his feet, not sure how he feels about that. "...Okay. That's fine. The wolf and me can just sleep in Black's bunk."

He turns to go when Shiro's hand lands on his shoulder.

"Keith, no. The Lions' hangar is all the way on the other end of the ship. Just share with me tonight."

Keith blinks, his heart leaping. "Oh, uh." He looks anywhere but at Shiro. "I mean, I wouldn't wanna bother you..."

The wolf licks his hand as if to say, _It's only Shiro, it's not a big deal._ But it is. It is a big deal.

"It's no bother, Keith, really."

Keith finally looks up at him, desperately hoping Shiro can't hear his heart hammering in his chest. "You sure?"

"I'm sure." Shiro turns back to the door, keying it open.

Keith follows more slowly, narrowing his eyes at the wolf, who cocks his head at him, tongue lolling. _You're enjoying this, aren't you_ , Keith thinks. _You have definitely been spending too much time with Pidge_.

If wolves could smirk, the space wolf would be, and gleefully.

The room is warmly lit and decorated in earth tones. Keith's boots sink slightly into the soft carpet.

"I guess I'll take the cou..." he trails off when he steps fully inside. "So... No couch, huh."

Shiro smiles at him apologetically. "Guess not. You're okay with sharing the bed, right?"

Keith's eyes snap up to Shiro's, and he knows he looks a bit like a deer caught in the headlights but he can't help it. The wolf nudges him from behind and he half-stumbles forward. "Y-yeah. I'm okay." _Okay. You're fine. You got this. It's just Shiro. Just the man whose friendship is the most precious thing in your life, and the only thing in the world you would actually care if you ruined beyond redemption by messing up and allowing him to find out how pathetically in love you are with him..._

He runs on autopilot as Shiro digs in the drawer and pulls out one of his T-shirts and a pair of sweatpants of a size that will probably slip right off Keith's hips. He ushers him into the small bathroom in the corner, disappearing behind the door as it closes. There's a basin and a shower, and Keith would be lying if he said he fully knows how he eventually gets himself cleaned up. He feels as though he's in a trance as he goes through the motions. The cold water goes some way toward clearing his head though, and when he's dried himself off he stands in front of the basin, glaring at his reflection the mirror. He leans forward, voice low: "Do not. Mess this up for us. I'm serious."

He narrows his eyes at himself one last time in warning, then pulls the drawstring of Shiro's sweatpants as tight as it will go around his waist, takes a deep breath, and steps out into the room. "Shower's all yours."

Shiro looks up from where he's sitting cross-legged on the floor giving the wolf belly rubs, and seems to freeze in place. Keith waits for a few beats until he starts to grow self-conscious. What is he _looking_ at? "...Shiro? You okay down there?"

Shiro blinks, breathing " _Perfect_...", and then he coughs, seeming to choke on nothing. "I mean, uh, good, yeah, I'm great, I'm doing well. How are you?"

Keith watches in mild bewilderment as Shiro gets up, shuffling past him to the shower hugging a bundle of clothes, and slamming the door behind him.

Keith exchanges a confused look with the wolf. That was... weird. But he has bigger problems.

He slowly turns to face the bed, and swallows dryly. It's large enough to fit them both, which is strange for a military vessel. But then, he supposes, there isn't much else that's normal about the Atlas, so why should this be?

Shiro has left the forearm of his prosthetic on one side of the bed, port glowing a happy blue. It's just quiet enough for Keith to hear its faint hum before the shower turns on in the bathroom and drowns it out.

The wolf hops up onto the foot of the bed, turning around a few times before snuggling down, but Keith can't quite face getting in. Not yet.

He sinks down on the small wheely-chair by the desk instead, pulling his legs up and using the edge of the desk to swivel himself side to side. Apart from the desk, chair, and bed, the room is otherwise bare. No personal items or photos or clothes draped on the hook in the wall. Keith guesses it's new for Shiro, too.

By the time Shiro comes out of the shower, Keith has unearthed his datapad from the pile of dirty clothes he dumped near the door, and made himself busy reading the mission reports of today's mission from the MFEs.

He looks up at the sound of the door and finds Shiro smiling at him, bathed in the warm light from the bathroom, hair still wet and spiky. Whatever had been going on with Shiro before seems to have been washed away by the shower, and Keith feels the awkward tension between them slowly dissipate, as if it were never there. His chest twists slightly like it always does at Shiro's smile, warmth flushing over his chest.

Shiro tilts his head toward the bed in invitation, not waiting for Keith before pulling back the covers and getting in. The wolf huffs grumpily, but shifts to make room for him.

After a brief hesitation Keith follows, sheets rustling and the bed dipping as he arranges himself. His heart rate picks up again as he settles into the pillow next to Shiro. There's a few nasty scratches on his arm from the fight, and his left eye is starting to swell and turn purple from where he must have taken a hit to the face. It takes him a while to get comfortable between his various aches and pains, but he ends up on his back between Shiro's detached forearm and his body, the wolf snuggled between his legs.

It's quiet for a while before Keith says softly, "Been a while since we've done this."

Shiro can't help but smile at the memory. "I remember. It was your birthday. You broke into my apartment at the Garrison. You were so upset... I didn't know why."

"You didn't even ask. You took one look at me and pulled back the covers and just let me... crawl in."

Shiro chuckles and says, "You looked like you could use the company.", and Keith is so helpless against the warmth and familiarity of his voice. He fists the sheets tightly in one hand.

"You were there for me when I needed you. Like always." He turns his head on the pillow to smile at Shiro.

Shiro smiles back. "Adam had a few things to say about it."

Keith blushes slightly, thinking back to that night. "But he was so nice to me... We woke up before you the next morning, and he made me breakfast..."

"Yeah. He knew how much I cared about you."

Keith looks down. "It probably wasn't, uh... appropriate for me to get into bed with you guys, huh."

He hears Shiro shake his head against the pillow. "You needed me. He always understood that."

He looks over to find Shiro staring and his heart stops a little at the look on Shiro's face, soft and overwhelmingly fond and he doesn't think he's ever seen Shiro look at anyone else like that. It's something he reserves just for Keith, and Keith has a whole catalogue of these looks stored in his memory.

He licks his lips slightly, voice rougher than he wants it to be. "Thanks, Shiro."

"Always, Keith. You know that."

Keith nods, warm all over, then turns away from Shiro pretending to yawn, because he doesn't think he can stay in this conversation any longer without saying something he'll regret. "Night, Shiro."

It takes a few breaths for Shiro to answer. "Night, Keith."

The lights dim to a soft glow, but Keith's already closed his eyes.

\----

He doesn't sleep. No matter how tired he was when he got back from the mission, any hope Keith had of getting any rest flew out the window the moment he got into bed next to Shiro. He's hyper aware of every small shift and sound coming from the body behind him. Shiro's breath is soft and warm on the back of his neck. It's been hours. Long, unending hours of lying awake staring at Shiro's prosthetic lying on the edge of the bed next to him. He's memorized every curve by now. It keeps his mind off of... other things.

The glow from the arm's socket dimmed to an almost invisible, hazy blue when Shiro fell asleep. Keith assumes it has something to do with the part of Shiro's brain that controls it. He's curious about the arm in general. Between recovering from the explosion and the long fall to Earth, their efforts to rebuild their broken world, and these "space Roomba" missions of theirs, he's hardly had a moment alone with Shiro and while he knows Shiro wouldn't mind him asking questions about it, he isn't sure how comfortable he would be talking about it in front of the others.

But it's part of Shiro. And Keith wants to know every part of him. And it's right here in front of him. And if he doesn't do something to distract himself from the knowledge that it's _Shiro_ lying behind him in the same bed, Shiro's soft even breaths puffing onto the curve behind his ear, Shiro's ankle pressing lightly into his calf... he's going to go insane.

Somewhere below them, the wolf continues to snore softly.

Keith turns his head slightly to peek back at Shiro. In the dark he can make out closed eyes, a relaxed face, expression more open and vulnerable than he shows to the other paladins during the day. His breathing is slow and even.

Biting his lip, Keith rolls back and reaches out slowly, hesitantly toward the prosthetic. He hovers over it for a second, then presses the tip of his forefinger onto the larger, metal forefinger. It sinks pliantly, curling in again when Keith pulls back with a soft whir of tiny pistons and compressors. Keith freezes, heart pounding as Shiro shifts slightly behind him. But as seconds pass, there is no more movement, just slow breathing returning to normal and the heat from Shiro's still body radiating into Keith's back. _Safe_.

He takes a deep breath and flattens his palm over the prosthetic's palm, marveling at how big it is. It dwarfs his hand, fingers thicker and longer than Keith's by far.

And it's warm. Keith isn't really surprised - the Galra prosthetic was warm too, while Shiro was moving, kinetic energy keeping it at a slight temperature even when it wasn't activated. But it was never warm like this, when Shiro was asleep. It was like the arm would shut down when Shiro did. Keith remembers the shock of going to shake Shiro awake in an emergency and meeting ice cold metal instead of warm flesh.

The new prosthetic is gently warm all the way through, and the palm is almost soft, the metal smooth and welcoming.

Keith lifts his hand away and smooths two fingers over the inside of the metal wrist, tracing the joint below the thumb before running lightly up the seam along the forearm. He revels in the touch, in this stolen indulgence, and wonders what it would be like to touch Shiro like this for real, what it would feel like to be allowed.

He curls his hand around the forearm lightly, fingers not quite able to meet around the wrist, and smoothes down over the raised ridge of the hand before settling over the prosthetic's palm again. He presses his fingers lightly between the gaps of Shiro's, and lets his thumb rub over the soft pads of the big hand, too tired to scold himself into stopping. _I know I can never have this, not for real... But just for tonight, please..._

Large fingers curl over his, trapping his hand in the cage of Shiro's. Keith freezes, heart jumping into his throat as the sheets rustle behind him. Shiro's awake.

 _Shiro's awake_.

Chagrined, he peeks over his shoulder, wincing when grey eyes meet his. "... Felt that, huh?"

Shiro smiles slightly, voice rough with sleep and mildly apologetic. "... Yeah, I did."

Keith squeezes his eyes shut in mortification. He's been found out. It's over. "Shiro... I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Hey, Keith... look at me."

Keith opens one eye a crack, then turns his shoulders slightly so he can look at Shiro properly.

Shiro says, "It's okay," and it's only when the prosthetic hand squeezes Keith's lightly that he realizes they're still clasped together.

"You... don't mind?" Keith asks, and he hates how scared he sounds, but his heart is beating way too fast and his chest actually hurts with what he can only call hope.

"Well... no," Shiro answers after a slight pause. "I don't. You're not scared of it. The arm, I mean. That means a lot to me."

.... _oh_. Keith tries not to let disappointment color his voice, heart sinking. "Why would I be scared of your arm?"

"It's never made you uncomfortable? Not even when it was Galra tech? Not even when..." He trails off, but Keith can fill in the blanks by the way Shiro's eyes trail over his face, over the scar on his cheek.

Keith extracts his hand from the prosthetic so he can turn around and face Shiro properly, needing to look into his eyes because he's never been good with words but Shiro needs to understand how much he means it when he says, "It's part of you, Shiro. How could it be anything but precious to me?"

Shiro goes still again, freezes in front of Keith. Keith's eyes flicker between his, trying to figure out what it means. Did he say the wrong thing? He only wanted Shiro to know that no part of him could ever be repulsive, but now he's gone and revealed too much and he should have known to just shut up. He _always_ says the wrong thing, he's not good with words like Shiro is and now he's gone and ruined everything and ---

"K-keith, I... really want to kiss you right now."

Keith's brain shuts down. The words echo in his head. _Kiss you right now. Kiss you_. He blinks furiously, trying to process them. From the corner of his eye, he sees the wolf lift his head to stare at Shiro. Keith almost wants to ask him, _You heard that too, right?_

Eventually he manages an eloquent, "W-what?"

Shiro looks at least as surprised as Keith feels, eyes almost comically wide and human hand firmly clamped over his mouth as if he definitely didn't mean to say that. After a second he squeezes his eyes shut and groans, dragging his hand down over his jaw. "Keith. I'm. I'm _so_ sorry."

Keith's heart is pounding so hard he can barely hear Shiro's words. _He wants to kiss me. He wants to_... wait. "Why are you sorry?"

Shiro stares at him. "Why... wouldn't I be--"

"Iwantyoutokissmeto," Keith talks over him, the words coming out all in a rush. His mouth has gone completely dry. At some point he's sat up and clenched his hands in the sheets over Shiro's chest. He watches him nervously. He never meant for those words to see the light of day, for this to ever happen. But then Shiro said it first, and everything changed. He focuses on relaxing his grip, spreading his hands flat over Shiro's chest.

"I want you. To kiss me too." he repeats, slower, because Shiro is looking at him like he's grown a second head, and Keith doesn't know if it's because he's regretting what he said, or because he feels just as terrified as Keith does. Beneath his palm, he can feel Shiro's heart beating a mile a minute, and maybe, just maybe, he's been wanting this too? _Ridiculous. It's just late. And you're both tired._

_... But what if he meant it?_

Shiro is pushing himself up on his good hand, sheets pooling around his waist as Keith's hands fall to his thighs.

"I've wanted you to kiss me since the day I met you," Keith continues, voice heating up because he's already gotten this far so he might as well go all in, "And I know you probably don't feel the same way, or haven't for very long, or... I dunno, but you said it, so now you have to go through with it."

He finally forces his eyes up from Shiro's chest to his face, only to find Shiro smiling at him. He leans in and closes the gap between them, simple as that, and Keith's ears are rushing with white noise, hands shaking as he twists them in the sheets in his lap because Shiro is _kissing_ him, and he feels like he's melting and exploding and a whole lot of other things he doesn't have words for, and Shiro's mouth is so wet and so soft, and nothing could have prepared Keith for the warmth of his closeness, for the goosebumps racing over his arms and the shocks traveling down his spine. He grips Shiro's arm and wishes he could just disappear into this moment, make it last forever, because he's wanted it for _so_ _long_ and it's _so_ _much_ better than he ever imagined.

He's peripherally aware of a soft sound, a deep rumble in the back of his mind, vibrating through his bones.

The wolf nuzzles his ankle, and rests his chin on Keith's foot to watch.

Around them, the Atlas settles with a pleased purr, content in its work.

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the first fic I've written for Voltron. I'm so happy to be contributing to such a lovely fandom!
> 
> You can [reblog this fic on tumblr](https://narada-talis.tumblr.com/post/179277090400/atlas-been-knew-all-this-time), if you like!  
> Alternatively you can just come and [yell at/with me about Shiro's massive arm](https://narada-talis.tumblr.com/ask).
> 
> I'm planning on writing a prequel to this that expands on the scene where Keith broke into Shiro's apartment ^^; He's such a delinquent. I love him.
> 
> Updated to add the amazing podfic by my loveliest of friends [taikodragon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hana_ginkawa/pseuds/taikodragon). PLEASE do yourself a favour and listen to her rendition of it... it's marvellous!

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] altas been knew all this time](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17196185) by [taikodragon (hana_ginkawa)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hana_ginkawa/pseuds/taikodragon)




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